A Key for Evaluating Nephite Geographies

Review of Deciphering the Geography of the Book of Mormon (1988), by F. Richard Hauck.

The first question in dealing with Book of Mormon geography should be whether the geography fits the facts of the Book of Mormon. Clark reconstructs an elemental geography and examines internal clues for distances between locations and the surrounding terrain. To evaluate geographies, Clark summarizes ten simple points having to do with the narrow neck of land, the coastlines, the wildernesses, the valleys, the rivers, a lake, and the relative locations of Zarahemla, Bountiful, Nephi, and Cumorah. Using these criteria, he evaluates the Sorenson and Hauck proposed geographies.